Secrets and Things Not Well Hidden
by Crawlspace
Summary: In an alternate universe somewhere between reality and North America, Serena has just discovered someone's secret. Shoujoai.
1. Serena

"Secrets and Things Not Well Hidden"

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Disclaimer:  Sailor Moon belongs to Naoko Takeuchi, not me.  I'm just borrowing the characters for a little while.

For K, who upon seeing episode 92 for the first time ran into the kitchen yelling, "Mommy, they put a boy in a sailor dress!"

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1. Serena

            Serena sat at her desk, pen in hand, staring at the paper in front of her.  The date was written neatly in the top corner of the page, but so far that was all she had been able to set down.  She just didn't know how to start her diary entry this time.  Lately, it was becoming harder and harder to express just how complicated her life had become.

            It had been almost a week since the incident at the Marine Cathedral.  So much had happened that day.  The mystery of the unidentified Sailor Scouts had been solved, and two people she had begun to think of as friends were suddenly her enemies.  She had seen one lying dead when she got to the cathedral.  The other might just as well have been for the dead look in her eyes.

            That look was what was bothering Serena tonight.  She gnawed on the end of her pen and glanced over at the magazine she had taken from Sammy's room earlier.  It was open to a photo spread of a charity race from back in February.  Serena didn't recognize any of the drivers and very few of the big name sports gurus in attendance.  But one picture had caught her eye, and now she stared at it still in shock and disbelief.

            Serena closed her eyes and shook her head, as if that could clear the image from her brain.  For several seconds she held her breath, then exhaled dramatically.  A moment later, pen met paper as the blonde tried to work out her jumbled thoughts.

_When I got there, __Neptune__ – no, Michelle – was dead.  Or at least I thought she was.  And Uranus did too, judging by the look in her eyes.  I've seen her eyes cold before, but never like this.  They were dead, soulless.  It scared me._

_Amara is Uranus.  Part of me knew that even before the whole thing with Mina, but it still surprises me to actually see it.  And everything happened so fast.  She was holding on to the gun.  For a second I really thought she would give it to me and we could find a way to make things right.  But she pushed me away and put it to her chest.  She didn't hesitate at all.  And she pulled the trigger…_

            Serena stopped writing for a second to rub at her eyes.  She would never forget that suicidal moment in the other Scout's life.  She was still having nightmares about it.

_How could she do that?  How could anyone just end their life that way?  Don't get me wrong.  Michelle is her only family as far as I know, and it must have crushed her to see her die, but still…_

_I love my brother, honest I do.  I may want him to go away and stop being a brat sometimes, but if he died I would be upset.  I'd even cry.  But would I be so devastated that I would kill myself right then and there to end the grief?  No.  The same goes for my friends.  Molly, Raye, all of them.  As much as I love them, my life is important to me.  There isn't anything I can think of –_

            Serena hesitated.  The end of her pen went back into her mouth as a thought began to form.  She stared at the magazine picture.  Double-paned, the left side was Amara standing and cheering in the stands with Michelle sitting next to her.  On the right, they were both standing, and Amara had pulled Michelle into a kiss that was very definitely not of cousinly affection.  In fact, it was almost just like when…

            Serena's eyes got wide as it finally hit her.  The idea was crazy; these two were cousins after all.  But it was making more and more sense.

            After jotting down one last thing in her diary, Serena grabbed her jacket off the back of her chair and headed for the front door.  She yelled to her parents that she was going out for awhile and left without waiting for a reply.  She hoped Raye wouldn't mind her stopping by this late, but she needed to talk to someone about this now.

            The diary sat open on Serena's desk, the magazine half on top of it.  The last word she had written was visible in the weak light from her desk light.  "Darien."


	2. Raye

"Secrets and Things Not Well Hidden"

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Disclaimer:  Sailor Moon belongs to Naoko Takeuchi, not me.  I'm just borrowing the characters for a little while.

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2. Raye

            Clouds skirted across the sky, obscuring the moon and making patchwork of the stars.  Serena hurried up the steps of Hikawa Shrine, wishing not for the first time that Grandpa Hino would install an escalator.

            Finally, she reached the top of the hill and paused to catch her breath.  Now that she was here, Serena wasn't certain how she was going to bring up the subject of the kissing cousins with her friend.

            "About time you got here."

            The voice from the darkness startled Serena and she stumbled backwards.  Clutching her chest, her breathing hard, she searched for the source of the voice.

            "God, Raye!  You scared me!" yelled Serena once she was able to discern her friend's figure.  Then a confused look came to her face.  "How'd you know I was coming?"

            "The fire knows all and sees all," deadpanned Raye.  Then she grinned.  "And your mom called all of us wanting to know if we'd heard from you.  She wants you to call her.  You need to call the others, too, and let them know you're okay.  Honestly, Serena, you should know better than to be running off without your communicator."

            When they got inside, Serena started a slow trudge towards the phone.  Raye gave her a little shove to get her moving.

            "Be quick about it.  And if your mom isn't too mad at you, ask her if you can spend the night.  The storm's going to break soon.  No point in you getting caught in it trying to get home."

            Nearly an hour later, Serena sat in Raye's room chewing on the end of her ponytail.  Her mom had said she could stay the night at Raye's.  She'd also said, in typical irate mother fashion, that if Serena ever ran off like that again without telling her where she was going, she wouldn't need to bother coming home again.

            After that, she and Raye had spent more time than necessary setting up the pull-out and getting ready for bed.  Serena had tried a few times to bring up the reason for her visit, but each time the words would die in her throat.

            After a handful of false starts, Raye's patience was wearing thin.  "Spit it out already, Serena!"

            Serena stopped chewing on her hair and let it fall from her mouth.

            Raye rolled her eyes.  "Not your hair, idiot!  The reason you came all the way over here in the middle of the night.  What's the big emergency?"

            Serena looked down at her fidgeting hands, her face growing warm.  "Oh.  Well, um, you see, I saw this picture.  It was Amara, and she was, well… (ambiguous hand gesture) with this girl, and she kinda sorta looked like, um…"

            A not-very-well-hidden giggle made Serena look up.  The huge grin and laughter in Raye's eyes made her forget her embarrassment and her train of thought.

            "What's so funny?" demanded Serena.

            "You are princess.  Have you really just now figured it out?"

            "What!  You mean you knew?"

            "Everybody knows, Serena.  It's obvious.  Amara acts like a guy, dresses like a guy, and flirts with everything in a skirt.  She might as well have a neon sign taped to her forehead that says 'I am a lesbian.'"

            Serena stared at her, bug-eyed.  "B-b-but Michelle…"

            Raye couldn't keep the sarcasm out of her voice as she said, "I'm pretty sure she knows.  I doubt she has a problem with it, seeing as how close they are."

            _You don't know the half of it, thought Serena._

            Raye pulled her pillow into her lap and leaned forward, looking more intently at her friend.  "You're really bugged out about this, aren't you, Serena?"

            "No, I'm not!"

            "You are.  I can tell by the look on your face."  Raye leaned back and shook her head.  "I wouldn't have expected that kind of reaction from you.  Chad, okay, sure.  But not from you."

            "I told you, I don't care if she likes girls.  And what does Chad have to do with it?"

            "You remember that trolley youma we had to fight.  It was around then.  Chad saw me with Amara, and she was doing her usual flirt thing.  I don't know what he was thinking.  That she could 'turn' me or something equally stupid.  Whatever it was, he wound up trying to fight her to save my honor."  Raye shrugged.  "No one ever said he was the brightest bulb on the Ferris wheel, but at least he cares."

            Raye fell backwards onto her pillows and turned towards Serena.  She smiled at the blonde, and after a few seconds got the reaction she was hoping for.

            Serena relaxed a bit and smiled back at Raye.  Then she pulled her blanket to her and lay back against her own pillows.

            "Get some sleep, Serena," Raye said as she got up to turn off the lights.  "If you want, we'll talk about it some more in the morning while you help me with my chores."

            Serena didn't get a chance to protest the shrine chores before the room went dark.  She heard Raye pad across the floor and get back into bed.  It didn't take long for Raye's breathing to even out and the soft snoring to start.

            Serena lay there listening to Raye and the rain.  Two opposing forces that were both keeping her awake.

            The talk with Raye had gone completely off course.  Though she had gotten a sort of half answer from the miko.  Serena admitted to herself that she had never known about Amara's preferences.  It just wasn't something she thought about.  But it did make sense, and added a piece to the puzzle she hadn't realized she was missing.

            Michelle, though, still seemed to be a missing piece.  The girl had more boyfriends than Mina had crushes.  So why get involved with any girl, let alone her own cousin?

            Serena rolled onto her side and started chewing on her ponytail again.  The rain was beating mercilessly against the windows.  She wondered how Raye could sleep through it all.

            As she watched the water cascade down the window, a new idea came to Serena.  She would go to Amy.  Amy and her superbrain had gotten them around and out of all sorts of situations.  As she finally began to drift off to sleep, Serena became certain that Amy could help her out with this situation, also.


	3. Amy

"Secrets and Things Not Well Hidden"

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Disclaimer:  Sailor Moon belongs to Naoko Takeuchi, not me.  I'm just borrowing the characters for a little while.

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3. Amy

            Serena stood at the door to Amy's home and rang the bell for a second time.  The windows were dark, and Serena was just about certain no one was home.  Yet it was always better to be optimistic, and following that philosophy, she rang the bell a third time.

            At the third ring, a light came on in one of the downstairs windows.  A second later, Serena heard footsteps, then the door opened.

            "Serena?  What are you doing here?" asked Amy, her accent slightly thicker than normal.

            For a moment Serena just stared at her friend, not able to answer.  And it had nothing to do with the subject she wanted to discuss.  There stood Amy, hair lightly tousled, wearing sweat pants and a t-shirt that came half way to her knees.

            _She's slumming it, thought Serena.  __In all the time I've known her, I've never seen her just bum a night away._

            Finally, Serena asked, "Can I talk to you about something?  Please."

            Amy hesitated for just a fraction of a second before moving aside and gesturing Serena inside.  "Come into the living room.  We can talk in there."

            Both girls settled on the couch.  Just to give her hands something to do, Serena pulled one of the small floral pillows into her lap.

            "How's everything, Amy?" asked Serena, looking around nervously.  "Where's your mom?"

            "Mom's on shift until midnight."  Amy grinned shyly and gestured at the bowl of popcorn and empty water bottles on the coffee table.  "And everything's fine.  I just fell asleep watching TV.  I'm glad I remembered to set the VCR."

            Serena nodded absently.

            "So, you wanted to talk about something?" prompted Amy after several seconds of silence.

            "Oh, uh, yes."  Serena fidgeted for a moment, her hand going into her pocket.  She took a deep breath, and then said quickly, "It's about Amara and Michelle."

            Amy tensed instantly.  Serena, however, was too occupied with pulling a piece of paper out of her pocket and smoothing it out on the coffee table to notice her friend's reaction.

            Amy looked down at the magazine page Serena had laid out in front of her.  For several seconds she just stared at the picture.  Then she slowly picked up the paper, folded it very neatly into a little square, and let it fall into the waste basket next to the couch.

            Serena stared at her, dumbstruck.  "Amy?"

            "Who else have you told?" asked Amy, her demeanor icy calm and her accent now so thick Serena was having a hard time understanding her.

            "No one, but I…"

            "It's none of our business, Serena."

            "But…"

            "No," Amy cut her off with a gesture.  "This isn't any of our business.  They've already said they want us to stay out of their way."

            "This doesn't have anything to do with being Scouts."  Serena leaned forward to reach for the basket Amy had tossed the page into.

            A firm hand on her arm stopped Serena halfway.  She looked up into Amy's frowning face.

            "Are you so sure of that?" asked Amy.

            Serena sat back up.

Amy sighed and her face softened just a bit.  "We all have secrets.  Things about ourselves that we don't want other people to know.  Whatever the reason for keeping those secrets, most of the time it's best to just not question them and leave them be."

Serena was about to offer another protest, but Amy put up a hand stopping her.  "It's just like what we do with Lita," she said quietly.  "Whenever she says her mom won't let her do something or her dad wants her home by a certain time we just go along with it.  Why?"

            "Because we decided it would hurt her too much to ask about it when we know her parents are dead."

            "Right.  It's just one of those things that we leave alone and don't question."

            Serena nodded as if she understood what her friend was saying to her.  Then she froze.  Judging by the look on Serena's face, Amy thought she knew what was coming next and was already nodding an affirmative before Serena finished asking the question.

            "Yes, I knew," answered Amy.  "The way they are with each other, especially when they think no one is looking.  Discretion isn't their strong suit."  She looked down at the hands she had tightly folded in her lap.  A slight blush colored her cheeks as she went on.  "It's hard to hide it sometimes, when you love someone that way.  And under the circumstances, they really don't have any choice but to keep it a secret."

            Amy watched as Serena sat there with a frown on her face.  The blonde's eyes were just slightly unfocused and her lips were moving minutely.  Amy could practically hear the gears turning in Serena's brain as the girl tried to puzzle out all the information, or in this case the lack of, that she had been presented with.  Amy reached over and placed a hand on Serena's.  The blonde focused back on the girl next to her.

            "I'm sorry, Serena, that I'm not telling you what you want to hear," said Amy gently.  "I hate not being able to give you answers, but this time I just can't."

            Serena smiled at her friend and took Amy's hand in both of hers.  "It's okay, Amy.  I don't completely understand, but it's okay."

            "Good," said Amy.  She stood, and Serena understood that this visit was over.

            Amy walked Serena to the door.  "Remember, Serena.  Don't tell anyone.  We've got bigger things to worry about now than what two people we barely know do behind closed doors."

            Amy walked back into the living room and fell boneless onto the couch.  She leaned her head back to stare at the ceiling and blew the bangs out of her eyes.  That had been a close call, and after the conversation with Serena she wished she had just ignored the doorbell altogether.  There were just some things people didn't need to know.

            "She's gone.  You can come out now," yelled Amy.

            "I would, but someone took my shirt," said Lita as she came down the stairs.  She leaned against the banister, dressed in a bra and jeans, her hair loose and curling softly down and around her shoulders.

            "Sorry," answered Amy with a smile.

            "No, you're not."  Lita moved further into the room and sat on the couch next to Amy.

             "You look better without it, anyway."  Amy rested her head against the taller girl's shoulder.  

            Lita took Amy's chin in her fingers and tilted the girl's head so they were eye to eye.  "So do you," she said softly, then brushed her lips against Amy's.

            When they parted, Lita asked, "What did Serena want?"

            "Nothing important," answered Amy, not quite able to meet Lita's eyes.  "She just needed a few things clarified.  You know how she is sometimes."

            "Uh huh."  Lita had noticed the heavier accent Amy was using.  She knew that usually happened because Amy was nervous or upset.

            "Hey, Love, you know what?" said Lita to the girl in her arms.

            "What?"

            "I think you've forgotten what country you're in again.  Come on."  Lita took Amy's hands and pulled her up off the couch and towards the stairs.  "We'll go upstairs and you can say 'bloody hell' a few times.  Then we'll pull out that list of Americanisms Mina made up for you."

            Lita laughed as Amy cringed.  That stupid list full of stupid words and phrases had been a gift from Mina.  'From one Brit (Retired) to another (Part-time),' it said.  Mina's heart had been in the right place when it was given, but Lita just couldn't imagine prim and proper Amy using words like 'freaked,' 'wicked,' or 'psyched.'

            Lita grinned as she thought that maybe tonight she could get little miss perfect to say 'get bent.'


	4. Amara and Michelle

"Secrets and Things Not Well Hidden"

by Crawlspace

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Disclaimer:  Sailor Moon belongs to Naoko Takeuchi, not me.  I'm just borrowing the characters for a little while.

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4. Amara and Michelle

            Serena sprinted across the path and ducked behind a tree.  Peeking around the tree trunk, she spotted her quarry, who still hadn't seen her after almost an hour of her following them.  Once again, Serena congratulated herself on her stealth and cunning as she prepared to follow Amara and Michelle farther into the park.

            Last weekend when she'd gone to see Amy, the girl had told her to just leave it alone.  Serena had tried, she really had.  But her curiosity was getting the better of her.

            'Curiosity killed the cat,' she could hear Mina saying.  Serena thought it was more likely the cat went crazy from not having its curiosity sated.

            The park was all but deserted this afternoon, so keeping up with Amara and Michelle wasn't difficult.  It had also been easy to stay on their tails through the shopping district, even if it had gotten a bit boring waiting for Michelle to finish trying on all those clothes.  Serena couldn't count the number of bags and boxes that had been left in Amara's car before the two had started walking towards the park.

            Serena crouched down behind a bush, then raised her head just enough to spy over the top.

            Michelle was staring right at her.

            Serena 'eeped' and fell backwards.  A hand came down on her shoulder and pulled her up, turning her so she could see who was behind her.

            "Why are you following us?" demanded Amara.

            Serena tried to answer, but nothing more than a few stuttered syllables emerged.

            Amara released the smaller girl with a light shove.  "Go home, meatball head.  If I catch you following us again, I won't let you off so easy."

            Amara turned to walk away just as Serena found her voice.  "I know about you," she blurted out.

            The older girl stopped, but didn't turn around.  Sounding as if she were talking to a slow child, she said, "I was there moonface, remember?  The parking garage, the cathedral.  We were all there and we all know."

            "No.  I mean about you and Michelle.  I know."

            That made Amara turn around.  Serena shrank back from the girl's cold glare.

            "I don't know what you think you know –"

            "Amara."  Michelle's tone was cautionary as she addressed her partner.

            Serena looked back and forth between the two girls.  Their eyes had locked, and she could sense the silent communication even if she couldn't decipher it.

            Amara nodded, then refocused on Serena.  "Come on," she said as she grabbed Serena's arm.

            The three girls left the park, Serena being more or less drug along by Amara.  She didn't question where they were going until she was stuffed in the back seat of Amara's car with the bags and boxes that wouldn't fit in the trunk.  Again Amara's glare was able to silence her.  Serena shrank back against the car seat.

            The ride to the apartment building was silent.  No words were spoken as the car was parked or during the elevator ride.

            Amara unlocked the door to the apartment she shared with Michelle.  "In here," she said as she led Serena into the sitting room.  "Sit where you want."

            Serena chose to perch on the edge of the couch, hands folded in her lap and looking like a schoolgirl about to be scolded by an angry teacher.

            Michelle sat in a chair across from Serena.  Amara stood to the side of the chair, her body tense.

            "You said you know about us," began Michelle.  "Could you elaborate on that a bit, please?"

            Serena's hands twisted nervously in her lap.  "Well, you see, I found this picture in my brother's magazine of a race and you two, well, you were there and you were kissing.  Only it wasn't the kind of kiss you give your cousin.  It was more like the way I want Darien to kiss me and then Raye said it was obvious that Amara was gay even though I didn't think so, but she didn't say anything about Michelle, so I asked Amy, but she said it wasn't any of our business even though she already knew and –"  Serena paused mid-ramble to take a breath.  Her mouth opened again to continue.

            "Just how many people have you told?" interrupted Amara.

            "I tried to tell Raye, but she misunderstood.  And Amy already knew, so I didn't really tell her."

            "I wondered why Amy stopped coming by the sports center," said Michelle sadly.  "I missed our races.  She was the only one who could give me a real challenge."

            Amara started to say something, but Michelle's hand on hers stopped her.  She looked down to the other girl, clearly annoyed at being interrupted.

            "At this point," said Michelle calmly to her partner, "we have nothing left to lose.  Tell her the truth, **_Haruka_."**

            Serena stared curiously at them as the older blonde visibly deflated.  The girl relaxed against the side of the chair and focused back on Serena.

            "To begin with," began Amara, "we aren't cousins.  That was just part of the disguise.  Just like our names.  Mine is really Haruka Tenoh.  Michelle's is Michiru Kaioh."

            Serena turned this information over in her head for several minutes.  Finally she asked, "Why didn't you just tell us that in the beginning?  Why lie about it?"

            "It's not lying," answered Haruka.  "It's just… just…"

            "Easier," supplied Michiru when the other girl couldn't seem to find a word.  "It was easier to explain two girls living together the way we are by saying we were related.  This way we could enroll in school and no one would think much about it or ask any uncomfortable questions."

            "It was the same with our names," continued Haruka.  "First of all, Michiru's name is too well known."

"And yours isn't?" smiled Michiru.

"No one outside the circuit would recognize me.  But say Michiru Kaioh and people immediately start talking about this painting or that piece of music.  Besides that, we also thought it would be easier to use names that were common to the people in this region," explained Haruka.

            Serena's forehead wrinkled in confusion.  "You thought 'Amara' was simpler and more common than 'Haruka'?"

            Michiru giggled and Haruka frowned.  "No, I thought Alexandra was.  But the idiot who made up our ID's fouled up.  He said I needed something feminine sounding.  Gave me some stupid line about how if I used Alexandra people would inevitably call me 'Alex' and that it would cause gender confusion yadda, yadda, yadda.  He's just lucky we were rushing as much as we were to get out here.  Otherwise…"

            "I still don't get it.  Why did you think you had to lie?  We would have understood."

            "We couldn't be sure that everyone would, though," answered Michiru.  "Try and understand it from our point of view.  I knew from the moment I saw Haruka that I wanted more than just friendship from her.  It was a normal thing for me, but I had some friends who could never get used to the idea of me being like that.  There are a lot of people who don't approve.  When we came here we wanted to avoid that sort of attention and fulfill the mission.  That was it."

"The mission," said Serena solemnly.

            "The mission," repeated Haruka.  "And that hasn't changed.  We'll still proceed the way we think we have to.  Even if you try to hold this over our heads in some way."

            "I wouldn't," protested Serena.

            "You say that now," said Haruka.  She stood straight once again.  "We've said all we need to for now.  Nothing's changed, odango.  Remember that."  

Serena stood and followed Haruka and Michiru to the door.

Before Haruka could close the door, Michiru asked quietly, "How did Amy know?  You said you didn't have to tell her."

            Serena smiled at the girl and shrugged.  "She said subtly wasn't your strong point.  She saw something in all those touches and whispers that I missed, I guess.  Kinda like you were saying one thing and doing another."

            Michiru nodded back in understanding.

            Before anything further could be said, Haruka closed the door.  From her place in the hall, Serena heard the deadbolt click into place.

            Serena put her hands behind her head and stretched her arms out with a sigh.  "So unnecessary," she said quietly to herself as she walked towards the elevator.  "We would have understood."

            Inside the apartment, Michiru put her arms around Haruka's waist and rested her head on the blonde's chest.  "Haruka, when this is all over, promise me we'll go back home."

            Haruka returned the embrace.  "I promise.  We'll take some time and go back to the coast, just the two of us."

            Michiru smiled.  "And you'll keep me out all night long and never let me go?"

            "Right," answered Haruka with a grin of her own.  "I'll even buy you an ice cream cone."


End file.
